It’s been two and a half weeks and Fluttershy was making herself at home aboard the Valhalla, she was surviving quite well despite all the attempts to capture and kill her. She had learned a few things about her mutations, like the fact that she should avoid anything that tasted like apples or else she could risk getting stuck in full bat form. She eventually went back to her half pony winged state after the first two days after the cider incident, her cutie mark morphed from the three pink bats into its twisted yin yang symbol.
Becoming a full on bat pony had let her move faster and made her much stronger, but Fluttershy didn’t truly revel in the feeling of her alternative form. In fact becoming a full on bat pony really freaked her out because she was conscious of the changes this time and didn’t lose herself mentally. Despite her friend’s reassurances that she would be okay through her dreams Fluttershy still had trouble coming to terms with it.
At least her survival was assured for the moment even if she felt bad for leeching food from all the other beings onboard. Fluttershy had studied all parts of the ship and heard many an interesting conversation that was about her, she was like a ghost story to all the crew members of a strange alien creature that was skulking around the bowels of ship doing who knows what. It was weird that they were already afraid of her even if she hadn’t done anything aggressive except hissing angrily at someone for breaking up her cider guzzling in the mess space where many of those who lived on this ship congregated to eat. At least not everyone wanted to dissect her, but there were still a fair number of scientists on the research and development deck that would love to get a hold of her.
Habitation, the bridge, weapons research and development decks that Fluttershy knew were heavily manned at all times, as such she stuck close to hydroponics and habitation. Habitation deck was important to Fluttershy for cleanliness reasons; she had eventually remembered that she could create clouds and use them to wipe her body clean as she had forgotten in the turmoil that her mutations were causing her. Forgetting she was a pegasus would have been a nail in one coffin.
Hydroponics grew its own food source which was interesting to Fluttershy as the Croakers, Aniversians or those of the Lylat System didn’t seem to have or care much for renewable food sources onboard their ships. In this ship these beings were quite clever by having an environment for growing food in, one that Fluttershy feared she was taking too much advantage of. At least she hasn’t been caught sneaking into and out of hydroponics like she has in the habitation deck; there was a lot of debate about her sentience given how smart she was in avoiding them. If it weren’t for her sonar hearing she wouldn’t be able to hear their heartbeats or even know that they were coming for her.
The hydroponics deck was like a forest that was completely devoid of animals except for the ones in the small farming section. The next time she saw Applejack in her dreams, she would have so much to discuss about plants being carried around in outer space.
It seriously disturbed Fluttershy that the cow like creatures in the hydroponics farm weren’t intelligent or sentient like the ones back home, but she did receive a friendly welcome from them all the same because her connection to animals. Apparently from what she learned of the farming section of hydroponics the more intelligent beings needed to resupply food less and the ship was more self sufficient if it had its own food sources. There were a lot of omnivores and carnivorous species aboard, not one of them was herbivorous like Fluttershy, learning of this made her isolation even more daunting if it were not for her friendship with the short lived farm animals that would be killed for food processing.
Fluttershy did feed her ferrets back home some fish and tried to not tear up at the death of the less than sentient creatures that became affectionate when she visited them. It was still unpleasant, but Fluttershy understood the cycle of life quite well and couldn’t begrudge them for what they ate to continue living so long as they didn’t feed on other sentient beings. Fluttershy had always been wary around Griffons because they once upon a time did eat the hearts of their enemies, a history lesson that made her feel queasy.
Speaking of griffons, Fluttershy was wary of being on a Galactic Federation battleship, she would have preferred to getting stuck on a large cargo vessels she heard about. The problem is cargo vessels didn’t have renewable food sources and another one wasn’t scheduled to meet up with the Valhalla for another month. They only need to resupply themselves at least once every three months depending on urgency or repairs needed after a fight.
At least Fluttershy knew that no matter where one went in the universe there would always be war, pain and intolerance. On the opposite hoof there was also joy, unknown wonders and so many different creatures wandering the vastness distances of space itself. The universe was a big place and ponies were a really small part of it, for all the good there would be bad and everything between.
It was no wonder that Twilight was so giddy to be in Fluttershy’s hooves to see what kind of ways of keeping knowledge the other races of the universe had. The super smart pony was even keeping track of all the things Fluttershy had seen and making notes on any of her observations about the other beings she has met in the universe. Fluttershy did get the point across that it was not all fun and games for her, because not every being she met in the universe was immediately friendly and she wished she could tell the Alderbaran people she forgave them for her having a bat episode.
What Fluttershy was doing currently was sitting in a vent located around the habitation deck and listening into conversations of people passing by quietly, it was the one form of entertainment that kept her sane. In her mind she wished for more company then when she slept and she wanted the presence of a friend.
Fluttershy twitched when something begin to vibrate near her. In fact it was right next to her and a little bit downwards, the vibration was weird and it felt like magic when Twilight had enwrapped her in a cocoon during her time as a supermodel something she was glad to get away from. Magic was something comforting to feel despite all this cold unfeeling technology even if it was amazing.
“Huh, which of my sister is it that calls for the aid of the high artificer Katrina Felicitous? This feeling is familiar, but I can’t place a claw on the one who calls. Is that you Willy Duwitt, I hear Jenny gave you one of our stones as a secret keeper? No it feels much more like a sister, but not of my race… puzzling.” Fluttershy blinked at hearing the voice almost as if it were in her head, she quickly pried the memory stone from Aldebaran out of her souvenir bag while avoiding the sharp edged blade of glass. She had enwrapped the handle of her glass knife with a bit of her own mane; she also used some of the sap she still had left to harden her makeshift handle. Holding out the glowing stone in her hoof, Fluttershy stared at it in wonder.
“Katrina?” Fluttershy said shyly not sure if what she had heard was real, she really did not like the idea that she was going insane, not that the universe cared for sanity.
“Fluttershy, you’re alive!? Thank the stars, when we sent you away I had thought for sure that the little lost traveler I had befriended perished by our magic and to the sickness of that twisted form. I had been held in a time of great sorrow for what happened to you! Quark demons are much more dangerous then we have ever truly realized. I am more thankful for the immunity we Aldebaran have adapted against them.” Katrina had clearly remembered her voice. Fluttershy could physically hear the female cat being crying on the other end of the stone, they sounded like tears of joy instead of sorrow. “Are you well, tell me what has become of you and why do you feel more like a sister now then just another magical being? How did you become connected to us so thoroughly? This certainly requires investigating, but it does my heart good to know your still in the realm of the living.”
“Fluttershy are you asleep? I feel something is amiss, as it feels like you are in a waking dream.” This time Fluttershy heard Luna’s voice coming from the stone which was a bit weird and it once again made Fluttershy question her sanity at the moment.
“Who are you and how did you become connected to a memory stone!” Katrina asked in a slightly blithe tone at hearing Fluttershy was alive, but it was slightly soured by hearing a different voice entirely.
“I am Princess Luna keeper of the night and who are you that I am speaking to? Much less why do I feel so many beings peacefully slumbering so far from our planet and the moon of which I ferry?” Luna sounded completely confused and Fluttershy was right there with her.
“Princess Luna I’m most certainly awake, but how am I talking to you? What’s going on? I’m still on the Valhalla and could you keep it down, I don’t want to be shot at again they grazed my left hind leg the last time they saw me and I don’t want them to send machines to try and pry me out of the vents like the last few times.” Fluttershy shuddered at the memory; she had learned to navigate the vents much faster after the last few times she had been spotted out in the open.
“You are Princess Luna? I am Katrina Felicitous, High Artificer of Aldebaran; Fluttershy has told me much of your race. Still, I wonder how you have connected to the memory stone that was given willingly to Fluttershy. What is this Valhalla you are on Fluttershy and who would shoot at a being who has regained her heart so pure? I want to know how you are faring and if you are well since you called for aid? I’m not sure how much I can truly lend.” Katrina was now as confused at the two other ponies on the magical stone that connected all three of them.
“I recently connected with my subject while she sleeps; I am a dream walker as well as protector of the night. Now I am seeing many alien minds that are distant from my own. Fluttershy has told me of your race, it is amazing by the way to view their dreams. They are much like us yet so vastly different; I don’t even know how I know their language.” Both the ponies heard a gasp of understanding was heard from Katrina.
“If you have a link to her mind, the memory stone in her possession must be linking not only her but you as well to those of the Aldebaran race. The reason you can understand us is that all words are spoken in understanding when spoken with the mind and the heart, the stone can link those who are secret keepers or are true sisters of our race. I’m curious that Fluttershy sounded off an alarm as a fully fledged sister and yet I know she is not of Aldebaran, but of your world and its own magic.” Katrina waited for a response she decided to add something. “The fact that it even became activate now is strange when it seemingly went inert before.”
“This is not how I expected our first contact to happen aside from what Fluttershy is giving us, we are not yet a space bound race. I heard a cry of need and it came from one of my subjects at a vast distance away and the only subject I know that far away is Fluttershy.” Luna regained her composure. “What is this memory stone you have given her? It seems to be a great boon to her if it allows me communication while she is awake. We, her friends, worry about Fluttershy and that she isn’t doing well being so alone.”
“This is all very confusing.” Fluttershy interjected because she hardly believed her ears, twitching them she decided to move to a more isolated section of ductworks where she could hold this conversation in a safer environment then the habitation deck. She answered one of Katrina’s earlier questions. “I’m currently on an alien battleship called the Valhalla with creatures that are really not nice, I think it’s mostly because of my appearance Katrina. The planet you sent me to kind of well… it exploded… violently. I was on that planet and thanks to some animal friends who nurtured me back to a relatively better health I escaped. I now find myself in another situation where they shoot at me if they see me; I think it is because the ship I escaped the exploding planet on kind of crashed into this one or my general current appearance. I’d like to think that they are just like scared animals lashing out at the unknown so I don’t hold it against them because of my current state and I might have hissed at one. Oh I forgot to ask, did I do anything horrible on Aldebaran?”
“You caused quite a stir Fluttershy, but out of all the damage you caused you didn’t do permanent harm and I didn’t even know Berserker Baboons could be spooked badly as usually nothing scares them. I can see where something like an accident you described would bring about large amounts of displeasure, but I still don’t see why they would shoot at something as friendly as you. You are not the cause of that planet exploding I take it?” Katrina sounded worried for Fluttershy even as she spoke in a dry tone; there were feelings that the pony on the other end of the stone was quite troubled.
“I know the answer is neigh, my lost subject ended up on the planet because of your people’s magic sending her there. We still do not know the cause of it exploding, but it seems to be engraved in poor Fluttershy’s memory and I along with her many friends have been trying to be of some comfort to her. The creatures she met who rescued her were near fully sentient and quite friendly, they aided her quite valiantly and I had the pleasure of meeting them mentally while they were sleeping while in contact with Fluttershy. She is most certainly not fully healthy in mind or body, but she is doing well considering the circumstance. Whatever magic you enacted upon her has mutated her into being mostly stuck halfway between two states and she has mentioned that it was quite painful for a while, even more so after taking a shot through a shoulder and one that went through her torso from energy weapons which I hear are alarmingly common to more technologically gifted beings in the universe.” Luna was just recounting all of it from second hoof information; it made Fluttershy pout a bit that she was considered to not be fully there in the head.
“I’m right here you know…” Fluttershy mumbled given that Luna forgot she was talking to two beings on the same magically connected line between them.
“And I am glad to hear at least that much, even if you are not entirely safe wherever you currently are. I now have reason to not be as sad, but celebrating while you are trapped in a hostile place is not a proper thing to do. These mutations sound horrific even upon my ears even if I cannot see them whereas you probably have Luna and I swear I did not mean for this to occur to your subject.” Katrina answered sounding truly regretful of what happened. “I beg forgiveness for letting this event occur while she would have otherwise been safe on our planet.”
“It’s okay; I have already forgiven you for it.” Fluttershy stated immediately, she was way too kind for her own good and she knew it. She didn’t rightfully care as kindness was its own reward.
“I however find myself less forgiving, but I will side with Fluttershy on this matter as you likely didn’t know where she’d end up when you sent her away.” Luna was not surprised to hear the living embodiment of kindness itself being so forgiving. That she was so quickly willing to put things in the past and continue on, she was truly an inspiration to all ponies by surviving the horrors Fluttershy has witnessed among all the wonders. This was one of the many wonders Luna could stand behind as it might help her cope much better if she could talk to her friends more often. “I am happy to forgive you as well, for now I can speak to my subject whenever I want.”
“Should your people achieve true space travel, we’d welcome you to our home world at any time. I hear your agricultural achievements are incredible.” Katrina made her peace with Luna and turned her thoughts back to the Fluttershy. “What aid do you need of me that I might lend Fluttershy?”
“Um… what can you do with a memory stone exactly? I know you said it could be used to contact me, but I didn’t know how it worked.” Fluttershy knew it was bound to her and she’d never be capable of losing it or so Katrina had told her.
“About as much as you can use it for really. It’s meant to help with homesickness… its certainly working as intended for you and it’s quite good for communicating vast distances, all the people of our world are never alone if they wish to travel the great beyond. Remember that no matter where you go, you can never truly lose it as it belongs to you and we will always be capable of talking.” Katrina sounded a bit upset. “I wish I could do more for you, the memory stone also allows Aldebarans to share their magic with other Aldebarans in times of great duress. It is obvious to me that we can’t lend you our magic as you would be incapable of using it effectively.”
“You could talk to me more often and maybe talk with my friends too; I think it might help me not feel so alone.” Fluttershy said hopefully.
“I would like that; I thank you for your forgiveness for not being able to properly aid you in a time of need.” Katrina said solemnly.
“I as well dear Fluttershy would like to open communications with the Aldebaran people, have you found a way off the Valhalla yet? Your continued safety onboard such a dangerous place has me and your friends praying constantly for your continued safety.” Luna asked with a bit of a somber tone.
“I’m still trying to find a safe way to get off. I’ve found out a lot about the people here, they could be nicer if they weren’t so afraid of me. It feels so strange for me to be feared like this when I’m usually the one that’s afraid and I currently am for myself and them. I also had a small accident near an airlock and I learned why I should never go near one especially without protective gear.” Fluttershy shuddered at the memory, space faring races knew the dangers of traveling outside the atmosphere of their home planet quite well. It’s surprising that some intelligent beings didn’t need to breathe to survive in outer space, though they definitely needed some form of temperature protection. “I’m trying to figure out if I should just steal a smaller ship which I’m still very much against the idea of Luna or if I should wait to sneak aboard a cargo vessel. I wouldn’t be able to go anywhere I want and would be at the whims of wherever that cargo vessel ends up and there’s also the fact that the cargo vessels can be attacked which makes staying here safer by comparison. I think I can pilot one of their fighter ships called a Stiletto since they are said to have simplistic controls. I’m not exactly sure I’d be willing to pilot one without knowing what I’m doing and without a habitable planet nearby since I really don’t fully know what a Stiletto can even do or how far it will get me. Dying in an explosion due to ignorance is something I actually expected of Rainbow Dash for a long time; by the way can you go to my home and look underneath my bed for a green box Luna? It was my eulogy for her in case it happened and I want you to update it for me in case I do actually try piloting something. The Etecoons were the pilots of The Vagrant and they did a really good job of it before it ran out of fuel and the escape pod they were on ejected.”
Fluttershy moved on to talking about all of her discoveries including hydroponics deck and her still wanting to see Applejack the next time she dreamed. Fluttershy had seen so much of the workings of how other people built their spaceships, she still didn’t understand what fueled them or the finer things but she learned much of their culture just by being on them. She already had Luna intrigued of designing her own space fleet which was not likely to happen yet as ponies were still working on airship technology as it is. Katrina was more interested in convincing Fluttershy to expand her options to involve the use of her stare and to not limit herself to being shot at constantly.